June

Our Max turned SIX years old!!  Max brought the strongest spirit into the room when he was born--so intense and sweet.  He loved snuggling then and still loves to snuggle every morning.  I don't know what I'm going to do when he gets too big to want to give me a squish every morning.  Max is our little thinker--he loves to figure out how things work, and will often show me what he has taken apart and how the pieces work together.  He loves the piano (can't wait til he starts lessons in the fall!), chocolate (or as he says it, chowack-o-late), minecraft, and his mama.  And he's smart.  So smart--literal, loves making jokes, reading at a 3rd grade level, and loves to play the what-if game.   

We went to B&N to use Max's free treat birthday coupon and get a book of choice.  He spent his time reading the book he chose instead of eating his chocolate chip cookie, read it on the car ride home, and kept reading it at home till he finished the whole thing!  I love that he's reading so much!

For Max's birthday penny drive we ended up at the library, which would have been perfect if a cold front hadn't moved in.  Everyone was too cold to stay and eat Max's requested dark chocolate torte with raspberries.

David helped build Max's computer from Uncle Jon Erik, and Max played on it the rest of the day.  

Max wanted a Minecraft birthday party just like Pace's from last year.  It was a fun repeat scavenger hunt, and the kids had a blast.  David also rented a bounce house, which Max was not interested in until all the kids had left.  

Max's bff, Owen, gave him a reading headlamp.  He wore it the whole next day while reading his book!

Our Ragnar team actually placed 3rd in our category!  So we got belt buckles in the mail! 

David took the boys to play at the Nickel-ade where they won tons and tons of tickets.

Then they went on a rockhounding adventure to find septarian nodules, and scored big!  The gnats were really bugging Max and he was not happy.

Pace led Family Night one Sunday, and did great!  He did Bishka's primary lesson from his class, and loved playing the memory game over and over.

We also finally got our summer chore list set up--reading, workbook, chores, playing outside, being creative, etc...  Pace is a very motivated individual--just knowing he gets his list checked off and has the rest of the day free to do what he wants is enough to motivate him to cross everything off his list.  He'll ask, "mommy, how long until we go (fill in the blank)?" He counts down the hours and says, "Oh, so if it takes me two hours to do my list, I'll still have three hours until we go (fill in the blank)!  And then I'll have the whole rest of the day to do what I want!"  Max I need to poke and prod all day long, and help do most of his list.

We also went to the library to pick up the summer reading calendar, and this year they have a bunch of fun reading ideas the kids can check off squares for beads and prizes.  One is reading while listening to music--this is Max's favorite.  He plugs headphones into the piano, plays classical music, and reads an entire book.  He looks at me with a sly grin and says, "I don't need to get a bookmark, because I'm going to read the whole book!" And he giggles and walks away, laughing at the best joke in the world.  On the days he read an entire book, I let him skip his workbook.  That kiddo.

This boy also finally learned how to ride his pedal bike! After riding the balance bike for two years, he was ready to transition to pedals.  We practiced for about an hour or so, and he was off!  My favorite part was when he'd been riding around our cul-de-sac for about an hour or so, stopped, looked up at me, and said, "Mommy, I just love riding my bike.  I forget about everything else, everything just goes away, and it just makes me so happy."  He also insisted we get a new bike helmet for him, because his current helmet (that fits just fine), "might automatically get too small".  I laughed and told him things like that don't happen automatically.  To celebrate Max riding his bike, we took a family ride along the river trail and played at the sports park.  Max loved it!!

Year 3 of swim lessons.  And the private lady we've been going to the past three years is now in our ward, from the boundary changes!  The boys did great this year, Max smiled the whole time, and Pace was a pro.  They'll both graduate next year to Beginner 2 classes!

Spanish Fork has Food Truck Fridays + Movie in the Park, and David got home early enough one Friday for us to go grab some dinner.  The boys weren't interested in the movie, but we got a pizza, hot dog (Max ate two hot dogs!), and falafel. 

For my birthday David and Jon Erik got me cleaning ladies to come a couple times a month.  Reading David's cards he wrote for me made me get a little emotional.  He made me sound a lot cooler than I really am.

The last weekend of the month I took a solo trip to celebrate Dad Dad's 90th birthday with the family.  I missed David and the boys so much, but it was really fun to catch up with everyone--I don't think we'd been all together in at least 10 years.  Laura took me on her trails, Jon Erik and Christian and I caught up, we helped prepare the party food and festivities, swam in the pool, and I had uninterrupted time to work on school, too.  Quick, fun weekend.

Here's when Mom Mom and Dad Dad told us family history stories.  Dad Dad's grandmother gave his mom $20 when she was 16 to leave Czechoslovakia because there was nothing there for her.  She made it to Germany where she found the Kratz family, who was coming to America.  She was brought on as their maid, and when the cook got sick one night for a dinner party, the family asked Mary if she could cook.  From then on she was their cook.  Mom Mom's great-great-grandparents were on the North side and South side of the Civil War.  Her great-great grandfather was on the north side, from Canada and when he got injured, the nurse that cared for him in Baltimore stole his heart.  After the war he came back down, found her, and they got married.

Still had to keep up with school...writing a lit review at 2am is hard...

Christian took us out for a crab cake birthday lunch, then we had a fun 90th birthday extravaganza for Dad Dad.

While I was in Baltimore, David took the boys to Wyoming to look for fish fossils.  They came home with tons of fossils to add to their rock collection...and a few fireworks for the 4th of July, haha.

And a few running adventures during the month:

Spanish Fork River Trail

Squaw Peak

Loafer Mountain Trail to Santaquin Peak

Gunpowder State Park Trails with Laura